Wednesday, September 04, 2013

Washington Post Exclusive: Bezos on the Post

via Shelf Awareness

Four days before his first visit to the Washington Post, which he is buying from the Graham family, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos told the paper he will be asking many questions of management and staff.

In what the Post billed as Bezos's first interview since the purchase 
announcement, the new newspaperman said, "We've had three big ideas at Amazon that we've stuck with for 18 years, and they're the reason we're successful: Put the customer first. Invent. And be patient. If you replace 'customer' with 'reader,' that approach, that point of view, can be successful at the Post, too."

He noted that he will provide "runway" financing: "financial support over a lengthy period in which the management can experiment to find a profitable formula for delivering the news," as the Post put it.
He said, too, "If we figure out a new golden era at the Post... that will be due to the ingenuity and inventiveness and experimentation of the team at the Post. I'll be there with advice from a distance. If we solve that problem, I won't deserve credit for it."

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